Dispensing container



Afig. 18 1970 WL R. SCHOLLE 3,524,483

DISPENSING CONTAINER I Filed July 31, 1968 w W 54 m 5, n 4 1 1 e 1 w w 4w w w Mm v H United States Patent 3,524,488 DISPENSING CONTAINER WilliamR. Scholle, Long Beach Calif., assignor to Scholle ContainerCorporation, North Lake, 111., a corporation of Illinois Filed July 31,1968, Ser. No. 749,083 Int. Cl. A45c 7/00 US. Cl. 150-5 1 Claim ABSTRACTOF THE DISCLOSURE The present invention relates to a novel container forliquids and to the method of producing same, the container beingcomposed of flexible synthetic plastic material and in generallyrectangular form.

In the filling of such containers with foamable liquids, such as forexample milk, and in order to prevent undue foaming of the milk duringthe filling, it is desirable for the container to be evacuated of airprior to filling so as to cause the defining surfaces of the containerto collapse towards or against each other. Thereafter, the container isfilled with the milk under pressure to simultaneously expand it to itsnormal rectangular contour without foaming, thus permitting completefilling which would otherwise be inconvenient due to necessity forreplacing of the air within the container.

This necessity for first collapsing and then expanding causes the wallsof the container to be flexed twice with the resultant possibility ofincreasing by 100% the chances of cracks or leaks resulting, asdistinguished from the single folding as is the case with the containerof the present invention wherein a single folding only takes place whenthe container is filled due to the fact that the container of thepresent invention is formed in collapsed or substantially collapsedcondition, eliminating or largely eliminating the necessity for causingsuch collapsing by evacuation.

Not only does the double folding, that is, the first collapsing and thenexpanding of the prior practice, result in the source of leakage butthis twice folding causes crease lines which unduly affect theappearance of the package.

As will appear hereinafter, the container of the present invention isblow-molded in a manner whereby the defining top, bottom and end wallsof the container are partially inwardly return-folded against each otherwith the remaining pair of opposed side walls disposed in closeproximity to each other. This results in a container having about halfthe thickness of the rectangular form to which it is ultimately to beexpanded in use, and thus results in a considerable saving of space intransportation and storage.

The objects and advantages of the present invention ice.

and its details of construction will be apparent from a consideration ofthe following specification and accompanying drawings, wherein FIG. 1diagrammatically shows, partl in section, an apparatus for blow-moldingthe container of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a section on line 2-2 of FIG. 1 showing the inner face of oneof the mold halves.

FIG. 3 is a section on line 3-3, with the two mold halves closed and theplastic material blown therein to collapsed container form.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a container formed in the presentinvention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the same container after it has beenexpanded upon being filled with liquid under pressure.

Referring to the drawings, particularly FIG. 1, the reference numeral 10indicates a hopper for plastic material which is fed into the heatingand extruding chamber 11 wherefrom the plastic material issues in theform of a hollow tube of parison 12 between the spaced mold halves 13,13 after which the mold closes. Air from the supply conduit 14 leads tothe blow pipe 15 which projects into the parison and between the moldhalves 13, 13.

As is well known in the blow-molding process, when air is introducedthrough the blow pipe the parison embraced between the mold halves isblown to conformity with the mold cavity, and as shown in FIG. 3, thereis defined the sidewalls 16, 16, and a pair of opposed end walls 17, 17.As further shown in FIG. 4, the product, removed from the mold after ithas been cooled and opened, is a container then defined by a pair ofsidewalls 16, 16 in close proximity to each other, and opposed end walls17, 17 which are partially inwardly folded and return-bent as at 17',17', a bottom wall 18 which is partially return-bent on itself as at18', and a top wall 19 which is partially return-bent similar to thebottom 18. Integral with the top wall 19 there is formed a hollow handle20 resulting from the mold cavity 20' as shown in FIG. 2.

The plastic material conventionally employed in the production ofdispensing containers for liquids such as milk is polyethylene, athermoplastic, and the blowing is such to result in considerably stifiwalls which are nevertheless flexibly resilient. The mold halves 13, 13can be provided with cooling coils 24 to permit rapid cooling of thethermoplastic and to hasten ability to be separated from the formedcontainer body.

As shown in the drawings, the areas of convergence between the said endwalls and top and bottom, and the areas of convergence between thesidewalls and top, bottom and end walls, are rounded so that they maysuitably be flexed outwardly upon introduction of liquid under pressurethrough the neck 21 which is formed integrally with the container andpreferably at the rounded area of convergence of one of said walls 17with either the bottom 18 or the top 19 as shown in the drawings. Thisneck 21 is formed by the die cavity portion 21' as shown in FIG. 2whereat a desirable lip may be formed by the die cavity portion 22 andannular collar by the die cavity portion 23.

It will thus be seen that the container of the present invention is inthe form of a one-piece, hollow, blow molded partially collapsed body,which is distended to final form by-filling the container with liquidunder' expanding pressure.

I claim:

I 1. A dispensing container for liquids in the form of a one-piece,hollow, blow-molded body composed of stiff, flexibly resilient,synthetic plastic material, said container comprising ,an integral top,bottom, an opposed pair of end walls, an opposed pair of sidewalls and atubular neck portion, said container being formed laterally collapsedwherein the top, bottom and end walls are par- References Cited UNITEDSTATES PATENTS ROBERT B. REEVES, Primary Examiner H. S. LANE, AssistantExaminer US. Cl. X.R.

